


Stars in the Dark

by AgentSprings



Category: The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: Blazing new trails in the relationship tags today folks, F/M, Fake Chop, M/M, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-13 05:12:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14742608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentSprings/pseuds/AgentSprings
Summary: Fake Chop is a new addition to the Cock Bite Syndicate with an explosive introduction.(I'm supposed to warn you I'm about to rip your heart out.)





	1. Chapter 1

The stars glistened against the black sky, the splatter of white of the Milky Way bright across the sky as Brett walked through the dewey grass. It was a beautiful night for stargazing save for the dampness on the ground, which he intended to rectify with the wadded up blanket he carried under his arm. Lindsey and Aleks had seemingly grown impatient with him, choosing to get their clothes wet anyways as they lay in the grass. He could hear them giggling together, pointing out different constellations to each other. He didn’t hear what Aleks murmured, but Lindsey laughed and smacked a hand onto his chest in response, Aleks giggling as well.

“Alright you two, break it up,” Brett said, nudging their shoulders with his boot where they lay side by side. They rolled away from each other and Brett tossed the blanket to spread it out and flopped down in the middle, positioning himself slightly higher on the blanket so when they rolled back next to him, they each used his arms as pillows. 

“About time, you slowpoke.” Lindsey teased with a smile.

“Give him a break, Linds, you know he’s old, he probably forgot where we were.” Aleks said. He turned onto his side so his stomach was pressed to Brett’s side, tossing his legs over Brett’s legs and onto Lindsey’s. 

“Whatever, I was being smart, you two are gross and wet now from laying in the grass.” 

“We wouldn’t have laid in it if you didn’t take so long.”

“I wasn’t even gone for two minutes!” Brett said, raising his hands as high as he could with them laying on his arms, exasperated.

“You could’ve just sucked it up and dealt with it with us,” Lindsey said, rolling onto her side as well to sandwich Brett in between them. He could feel their wet clothes transferring moisture onto his clothes and he groaned.

“You two are the worst, why do I love you both.” He said, hugging them tightly to himself for a moment. “Now lie on your backs, we’re supposed to be stargazing here.”

“We already did that while you were taking your sweet ass time-”

“OK, I get it, I took forever, now lets stargaze or I’m going back in the house.” Brett raised his voice to cut off Aleks. 

Aleks and Lindsey snickered, but rolled onto their backs again.

They lay together in comfortable silence and Brett savored every second of it. His guy and his girl tucked under his arms, no distractions, nothing to take them away from this moment. He focused on every little thing he could, Aleks’ hair tickling his bicep, Lindsey’s warm body pressed against his own, the smell of the grass around them. Even the pull of gravity against his body. It was different than laying in a bed, he could feel every point of his body pressing into the earth. It was comforting.

A satellite blinked across the sky above them.

“Have you guys ever imagined that the stars are below you instead of above?” He asked them.

Aleks laughed. 

“Holy shit dude, I never thought of it that way before. That’s really weird… Gravity is the only thing keeping me from falling into it right now.” Aleks said.

Lindsey made a distressed noise and tightened her grip on his shirt. He shifted his arm so he could put a hand on her arm and looked down at her. “You okay, Linds?”

She bit her lip and looked down at the stars. “That made me feel… really insignificant.”

Brett took his arm away from Aleks, making Aleks’ head hit the blanket as he exclaimed in protest, and wrapped both arms around Lindsey. “Hey, you’re not insignificant. How many times have you lit up the room with your laughter, with your smile? And how many times have you saved either of our lives? Or any of the other guys for that matter? We all owe you our lives and I’d say that’s pretty damn significant.” 

Lindsey smiled, turning into him and pressing her face to his chest. Aleks leaned over his shoulder to rub Lindsey’s back and she sighed. “Yeah, you guys would be pretty fucked without me.”

“Damn right we would.” Brett said. He leaned back and lifted a hand to point at the stars. “And you know you’re made of stardust right? How could anything that came from the same thing that made all those stars be insignificant?”

Lindsey rolled onto her back again with a smile and wiped her face. “Yeah, whatever you say, man.”

‘I love you Lindsey, don’t you forget that.” He said and planted a kiss on her head.

“Ey, what about me,” Aleks said with mock offense.

Brett stretched his arm out for him to rest his head on again, pulling him close to kiss him on the forehead. “Yeah, I love you too, you dumbass.”

Aleks sighed and snuggled his face into Brett's neck, pressing a kiss against his jaw. 

Brett relaxed against the ground, closing his eyes to enjoy the moment. He could feel the energy drain out of his body and he relaxed into the ground.

“Brett, are you ok?” He heard Aleks ask.

He hummed in response, raising his eyebrows to show he was listening but keeping his eyes closed.

“Brett! Brett, answer me!” Panic saturated Aleks’ voice and he felt a hand land on his chest, shaking him roughly. 

He opened his eyes to see Aleks kneeling next to him, pressing hard on Brett's stomach. Lindsey sat on his other side, her brow furrowed with concern. 

“What's wrong?” He asked, his eyes drifting shut again. It was so hard to keep them open.

“Brett!” Aleks screamed. 

He gasped as the dream of stargazing was fully yanked from his grasp, reality hitting him like a ton of bricks in the form of Aleks slapping him awake. Aleks leaned over him with blood dripping in his eyes. Their surroundings were different, Lindsey was gone, the grass wild and towering over them. The black expanse above (below?) them glistening with stars. There was a bright flickering light nearby and he couldn’t quite make out the Milky Way tonight.

Aleks was kneeling next to him, his arms straight as he pressed hard on Brett’s stomach. He looked over his shoulder, unintentionally shifting his weight onto his arms and sending pain shooting through Brett’s torso.

Brett grunted as the pain turned his vision grey for a moment. He managed to lift his head and look down at himself and instantly regretted it. Extending six inches from his stomach stood a metal rod, the top jagged from whatever it had been torn off of and the other sinking deep into the left side of his abdomen. He dropped his head back to the ground, thumping it against the coarse grass a couple times as a panicked laugh ripped itself from his throat.

“Aleks, talk to me, buddy, what’s going on?” He asked through clenched teeth, forcing Aleks to look at him again. 

“Explosion,” Aleks sputtered out, “the fucking car was rigged to blow and you got me out just in time.”

“Not fast enough, it looks like,” Brett said, raising his arm to wipe at the blood on Aleks’ head. He felt like he had no energy left and his hand flopped back to the ground. 

“No, you were- you were fast enough, Brett,” Aleks said, “I would've been a lot worse if you didn't-” 

He was cut off by the sound of a helicopter over the rise of the hill and he ducked down in the grass next to Brett, watching the hill to see if it was friend or foe. He wasn't able to keep pressure on Brett's wound as well from that angle and Brett could feel fresh blood seeping down his side.

The helicopter appeared and Aleks let out a gasp of relief as he recognized the red light bar Asher had affixed to the belly of his Valkyrie. “Asher! It's Asher, Brett, just hang on, he's coming for us.”

Brett let out a weak “yay” as Aleks scrambled to his feet, waving his arms frantically at the helicopter. The fire of the car still blazed nearby, a beacon in the night that Asher definitely wasn't going to miss. 

The helicopter buzzed by low over Aleks head, Brett caught a glimpse of its belly as it went by. He could feel himself getting weaker by the minute, at this point he wasn't sure he'd be able to sit up, let alone stand and walk to the helicopter. The decision was made for him as Aleks bent to pull him up, the movement making his head spin and his vision went black.

He caught bits and pieces over the next while, Aleks and Trevor carrying him to the helicopter, waking up with a scream as Trevor pressed on his wound, laying on the hard metal floor as Aleks sat slumped in one of the seats, his head lolling against the headrest with his eyes closed.

“Aleks..” he sighed out before falling unconscious again.

The next time he was aware for a brief moment, James and Trevor were carrying him into the warehouse, yelling for someone to _open the goddamn door!_ Lindsey appeared out of nowhere next to his head and he looked up at her through glassy eyes. 

“Hey, babe..” he said, blinking slowly.

“Don't you dare 'babe’ me, you dumb fuck, this is exactly the kind of situation I was worried would happen,” she snapped. Her words bit hard, but her touch was gentle as the guys laid him on the kitchen table and she was able to start inspecting the wound.

“Just doin’ my job..” he slurred. The world was ever so slowly starting to spin around his head, but he could hear Aleks trying to describe what happened, his words jumbled and incoherent.

“I think Aleks has a concussion!” James hollered.

Brett could see Lindsey’s brows pinch together and he wanted to reach up and smooth the creases on her forehead but his arms wouldn’t respond, lying limp at his sides. 

“Keep Aleks awake, keep him talking, I can’t help right now, just- take care of him for me please.” She laid her hand on Brett’s face, gently rubbing her thumb under his eye. “Brett? Can you hear me? I can’t, I can’t do this- I need help here!”

The panic in her voice was the last thing he heard before the darkness fully consumed him.


	2. Chapter 2

“Will you fucking stop?”

“Stop bitching, I’m just trying to help.” Lindsey said, pushing Brett’s flailing hand away. Aleks peered over her shoulder, wincing at the bruise already growing across the bridge of Brett’s nose, emphasizing the already dark circles under his eyes as she removed the ice pack. 

“Dude, you look like shit.”

“You shut your face, didn’t ask for your input.” 

“How about my input, want my input?” James asked, standing in the middle of the padded floor that had been designated for sparring. “I think I’ve had about enough of your input.” Brett said, glaring at James. James grinned at him, twirling the twin short staffs in his hands, one of which he had bashed Brett in the face with.

“Oh c’mon, you said not to go easy.”

“I didn’t realize I had to specify ‘don’t break my goddamn nose’ when I said that.”

“Regular or Thomas the Tank Engine?” Lindsey held up two boxes of bandaids. 

“Why do we even have the kids ones?” He said, flicking the regular white box. He picked up his phone, scrolling through the unread texts and emails waiting for him. “You about done? We need to get going.”

“What’s wrong with a little variety?” Lindsey passed the boxes to Aleks, who slipped one out and passed it to her, giving her a wink as Brett was distracted by his phone. She glanced at it and smirked at Aleks, quickly unwrapping it and sticking it across the cut on Brett’s nose before he could see the bright blue bandaid.

“Alright, good to go,” She said, planting a kiss on the end of his nose before giving him a slap on the thigh. “Though I really wish you wouldn't. I still don't feel totally comfortable with this.”

“Thanks babe,” he returned the kiss on her forehead and stood up, giving her a quick squeeze. “Don't worry, it's all going to work out. You sure you don't want to come, James?”

“Hell no, I'm done being a people person, you guys knock yourself out.” James said as he tossed the sparring sticks back onto their shelf.

“Oh can we? You won't do it yourself with your beating sticks? You're too kind.” Brett said, turning to the door and bumping Aleks’ shoulder along the way. “Let’s hit the road, don’t want to keep the overlords waiting.”

“Yeah, whatever you say ‘boss’,” Aleks said. He followed Brett to the door, turning and winking at Lindsey before following him out to the car.

The drive was nice, the peace of the countryside along the freeway disturbed only by the growl of the engine and the thumping of Aleks’ music through the speakers, heavy on the bass as per usual. They drove mostly in silence asides from the occasional time Aleks would sing along to a song, Brett smirking at him every time he got the lyrics wrong.

“Shut the fuck up man.”

“I didn’t say a thing.” Brett said with a laugh, not taking his eyes away from his phone. 

After an hour of driving they arrived on the north end of the island, the sun glowing on the horizon, kissing the edge of the ocean as Aleks parked the Lamborghini next to a black Adder with green accents. He vaguely recognized the car, like he’d seen it on TV at some point. When he saw the owner leaning against the front fender, a cigarette dangling between his painted lips, Aleks’ recognition was affirmed. The Vagabond. Of course.

“Still sure about this?” Aleks asked, watching the Vagabond warily.

“Fuck it. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“See, you say that now…”

“Shut up and get out of the car.”

Aleks tugged at his sunglasses, debating if there was still enough light out to get away with keeping them on. Even with the waning evening light, he decided on yes and made sure they were firmly in place before getting out of the car as well.

“Hundar,” the Vagabond greeted, catching Brett’s handshake, “glad to see you guys chose to come.” he waved a hand in front of his face, pointing at his own nose. “Nice bandaid, get into a fight recently?”

“Sparring.” Brett replied simply. He gestured to Aleks, “this is my partner, Immortal.”

Aleks was grateful for the sunglasses as the Vagabond focused on him, unable to keep his eyes from widening as he shook the Vagabonds hand. 

“Partner or partner partner?” the Vagabond emphasized the vowels as he repeated himself. “No judgement here, there are many crew and inter-crew relationships around here.”

Brett didn’t answer, instead asking a question about explosions he’d heard near their warehouse the week before and who from the Fakes may have caused it. The Vagabond raised an eyebrow at the avoidance of the question, but didn’t press and followed the conversation.

It wasn’t unexpected to Aleks, who cast his eyes around the half full parking lot. The three of them didn’t discuss their relationship outside of with the people of their crew. Even then, the crew only knew what the three chose to display, and that wasn’t much either asides from touches and kisses.

Everyone’s attention was drawn to two grey sports cars that ripped into the parking lot, skidding to a halt haphazardly parked across three spots each, two doors on each car popping open before they even fully stopped, clouds of vapor and chaotic yelling filling the air around each of the four men. Aleks recognized Cib stumbling out of Steven’s car and DeAngelis and Jamie from the other. How the hell they managed to get a famous actor to join their crew and still somehow not get recognized every other day, Aleks would never know. 

“And Slaughter Pine 7 makes everyone.” Vagabond said flicking his cigarette to the pavement and grinding it with his heel, “shall we go inside?”

The building appeared decrepit from the outside; a guise, Aleks quickly learned. The long low building was dim, but fancy inside. A bar ran down one side of the room with a few high tables between it and a railing that ran around the perimeter of a sunken floor full of various gambling tables. Down the other side of the building opposite the bar was a row of spacious high backed booths, each curved in nearly a circle with enough space for people to get in and out of the booth. Across the back of the building was a dark curtain, presumably hiding private rooms and offices. The place was packed, dozens of faces he recognized and even more that he didn’t milled around the room or loitered in booths, hardly an empty hand in the room. Booze and conversation flowed a plenty, voices raised to be heard over the music bumping through the speakers.

Aleks was impressed. He’d heard rumors of the secret clubs owned by the original members of the Cock Bite syndicate, but he hadn’t expected this meeting to be happening in one of them. If he got to party in a club like this on a regular basis, he was glad to join the syndicate.

He was taken out of his gawking as Brett hooked his pinky into Aleks’ hand, indicating he was walking away, following the Vagabond to the bar. Aleks’ trailed along behind them, looking around for anyone he may want to talk to. He could see several people turning to look at Brett and his bright blue bandaid, some smirking as they looked away, others openly giggling and then cowering as Brett shot them a glare.

Brett’s hands landed on his shoulder as he reached the bar, leaning in to talk in his ear over the music. “Don’t go too wild, keep your head on straight.”

Aleks nodded. “Thanks _dad_ , I’ll keep that in mind.”

He felt Brett’s boot gently knock against his shin and they grinned at each other, before turning away, staying near enough to bump shoulders, but opening themselves up to conversation with other people. He could hear Brett talking with the Vagabond still as he cycled through a few different people that approached the bar near him and struck up conversation throughout the evening, choosing to stay put rather than wander through the crowd. At one point when Aleks was halfway through his second drink the music cut out and the Kingpin himself stood on the steps down to the gambling tables and gave a short speech, welcoming the new smaller gangs like Fake Chop, Slaughter Pine 7, and Fakeshow. Aleks was again grateful he kept his sunglasses, sliding them back over his eyes even in the dim room as Ramsey mentioned their crew name. He didn’t point them out, but Aleks felt eyes on them anyways from the people who knew who they were. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding when the music came back on again, restarting conversations and redistributing the attention. 

Brett tugged on his jacket sleeve as he moved away from the bar, once again following the Vagabond through the crowd. Aleks stuck with him, he could feel his energy draining, getting overwhelmed by the people and conversation. It was exhausting, everyone there was fake, everyone had a secret to keep and a desire to pry for everyone else's secrets as well. Everyone he had spoken to so far had kept the conversation shallow, subtly prodding for information and then growing bored and giving up when Aleks wouldn’t offer anything exciting up to them. At first he’d been toying with people, keeping their interest but as he grew tired, he grew just as bored of them as they were with him.

He was relieved to see the Vagabond sliding into one of the circular booths, the promise of a quieter area and more personal conversation enticing. He slipped in after Brett and sunk back into the soft back rest before freezing. He didn’t know someone else had already been in here before them.

Across the table sat the Kingpin, his sleepy looking eyes inspecting the two of them and next to him sat a fiery redhead, her bob cut pinned in a nice updo. Aleks knew Brett was supposed to meet with them this evening but hadn’t planned on being present for the meeting and the thought that this is where they were heading hadn’t crossed his mind. And Brett had a fucking Thomas the Tank Engine bandaid across his nose. He was so dead, Brett was going to kill him when he realized what everyone had been smirking at all evening. Too late now. Time to play it cool. 

“Welcome boys, can I get you guys a refill?” Ramsey asked, indicating their cups with his own nearly empty glass. He didn’t bother waiting for an answer and within moments everyone in the booth had a fresh glass in front of them. “Nice bandaid, Hundar.”

Brett scowled. “Everyone keeps saying that as if they’ve never seen a broken nose before.”

Ramsey laughed and raised his eyebrows, glancing at Aleks, who shook his head, which only made Ramsey laugh harder. 

Jack shook her head and pulled out an envelope, passing it to Brett. “A phone for you. It’s for business use only and you’ll receive a new one every week.”

The conversation shifted to the business side of their deal with the syndicate, an outline of what kind of behavior was accepted and not accepted by them and what kind of services they could get. Aleks pulled out his phone, texting Lindsey as they discussed the emergency medical unit in Ramsey’s building that they had an open invitation to use. She was pleased to hear about it, texting back that it was a load off her shoulders. He glanced at the Vagabond occasionally, who sat there without comment, seemingly watching someone across the room with his brow furrowed the entire time.

Half an hour later an obnoxiously dressed Rimmy Tim appeared at the edge of their table, giving a quick glance around the booth, lingering on Brett for a second. “Nice bandaid. Hey Jack, can you settle a debate between me and Gavin?”

As Jack and Rimmy Tim spoke over the table, Aleks watched Brett out of the corner of his eye, his eyes slowly unfocusing and turning ever so slightly inwards, crossing to try to get a glimpse at the bandaid on his nose. His eyes instantly opened wide in recognition as he seemed to notice the blue instead of beige he had expected. His breathing grew heavy, like a raging bull about to charge and Aleks carefully tried to slip towards the edge of the booth before Brett’s hand landed on his knee, tightening like a vice. To be honest, Aleks couldn’t decide if he should be terrified or laugh at the whole situation. Across the table, Ramsey started howling with laughter, having watched the facial journey Brett had just gone on and Aleks cracked too, laughing along with him.

“Well, Mr. Ramsey, we’ve had a lovely evening here, your hospitality is astounding, but I think we need to get heading to that emergency room you were talking about because I’m going to kill this man.” Brett said, his voice low and dangerous.

Ramsey wheezed with laughter, waving at them as they slipped out of the booth and towards the door. “Have a good one!”

Aleks barely contained his laughter as they stumbled to the car, pulling out his phone as he slumped into the passenger seat. As soon as he was in the driver seat, Brett was pulling on the rearview mirror, angling it towards himself to see his reflection. 

“You're a real piece of shit, you know that?”

“Lindsey was the one that put it on.” Aleks said with a laugh.

“But _you_ let me walk into a club full of the most feared gangs on the island, meet with the fucking Kingpin, with a fucking Thomas the Tank Engine bandaid on my face!” Brett ripped the bandaid off and tried to toss it out the open door, flicking his hand as it briefly stuck to his finger before falling to the pavement.

“I will point out they all thought it was funny.” Aleks said, trying to defend himself. “Even the Kingpin thought it was funny.”

“He laughed in my face, Aleks!”

“Oh come on, it's not like they're going to ridicule you forever just because of a kids bandaid.”

Brett scowled again as he backed out of the lot and pulled onto the road that would take them back to the highway. “I'm breaking up with you. Lindsey too.”

“Wow, well thanks for the good run, best year and a half I've ever had. And if you're breaking up with Lindsey too, I'm keeping her, we'll go on and have a wonderful life without you and find another boyfriend.”

Brett twisted his face into an exaggerated pout, but finally broke and laughed too. 

“Don't you dare pull that shit again,” Brett said, smacking Aleks shoulder.

Ten minutes later when they were a couple miles from the freeway still, Brett’s new business phone rang, the screen lighting up to show ‘Haywood’. Brett hummed curiously, but answered.

The Vagabonds voice came through loud and clear before Brett could even greet him. “Get out of the car, now.”

Brett didn’t hesitate, slamming on the brakes and pulling the gear shift into neutral before the car skid to a full halt. 

“Brett! What’s going on?” Aleks braced himself against the door. Brett was already out, sliding across the hood of the car to get to Aleks’ door. He yanked it open and grabbed Aleks’ hand to pull him away from the car. 

Halfway to the ditch they both spun around as a huge explosion back down the road, towards where they came from, lit up the night sky, the flames shooting high into the sky.

“Move!” Brett yelled, shoving Aleks’ shoulder.

Aleks turned and bolted to the edge of the road, barely making it to the grass before the car exploded and knocked him off his feet, sending him ass over teakettle into the ditch. His head struck something hard and his vision went dark for a moment, coming back as he felt something heavy land against him. 

He opened his eyes and saw Brett sprawled in the grass next to him, his eyes closed and face streaked with blood.

And then nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ones short, initially didn't want to post this chunk on it's own, but that next chunk isn't done yet.

“I can’t, I can’t do this- I need help here!” Lindsey raised her voice, calling for anyone to roll up their sleeves and _help her, goddammit._ Her hands were already covered in blood, _Brett’s_ blood. She needed to distance herself, ignore how familiar she was with his body, try not to think about how aware she was that he had just fully slipped into unconsciousness. 

Trevors gentle hands brushed against hers and took the cloth she had been using to clean the wound and pressing a new one into her hands. “What do you need me to do? Do we need to take this out?” He gestured to the rod of metal, not daring to touch it at all.

“No!” She choked out, yelling in her panic despite him not touching it. She dropped her voice closer to a whisper, “No, don’t touch it, I- I don’t know what kind of damage it’s done, we can’t take it out here.”

Asher stood at the end of the table, carefully wiping at the blood smeared across Brett’s forehead and down the right side of his face. Tiny pieces of glass were embedded in his skin from the explosion. “If you can’t do it here, what are we going to do? You expect us to take him to a hospital?”

“No, we- “ She interrupted herself, debating if what she was about to suggest was too crazy to consider. _Fuck it, he was the one that offered it in the first place._ “We take him to Ramsey’s, Aleks told me about the emergency ward he has in his building. Asher, get the van started. Trevor, keep pressure on that wound and pack some gauze around the rod. Don't let it move.” 

She spun on her heel to face James and Aleks, wiping her hands on the cloth she still clutched. “Aleks, how are you feeling?”

James was attempting to hold a folded piece of gauze to a gash on Aleks’ head, who struggled against him, trying to push his hands away with a whine. “It hurts, make him stop.”

Lindsey clasped Aleks’ chin, gently raising his head to inspect the wound just inside his hairline. It was ugly and deep, she winced at the sight of it. It would need a couple stitches, but the gauze would handle it until they made it to Ramsey's building. 

“Aleks, we need to leave, can you walk with me to the van?” she asked, placing her hand on his cheek.

He closed his eyes and leaned into it. “I just want to sleep, Linds.”

“You can nap in the van and then there might be a comfy bed for you to sleep in once we get you fixed up, I just need you to get in the van right now and come with us.”

Aleks nodded begrudgingly, but stood. He paused for a moment before attempting any steps, tottering dangerously before grabbing onto Lindsey’s shoulder to stabilize himself. She stepped close to wrap her arm around his waist, supporting him all the way to the van Asher had pulled into the warehouse. She got Aleks into the passenger seat, making sure he buckled himself in. She moved to shut the door when Aleks held his hand out to stop it from fully closing and looked at her.

“Where’s Brett? Is he alive?” his voice broke on the last word.

Lindsey put her hand on his arm and gave a gentle squeeze. “He’s alive. We’re going to take care of him, but we need to hurry, babe. I need to get back to him.”

Aleks nodded, letting go of the door so she could latch it and putting his head back against the seat.

She reached the back door as James and Trevor slid the backboard they had strapped Brett to into the back of the van and climbed in after him. They had no fancy gurney and all the back seats had been taken out, so her only option was to sit on the floor next to him, crossing her legs and tucking her feet under her. Trevor folded himself in on the opposite side, trying to keep his limbs to himself and looking everywhere but at Brett.

“I'm going to clean this mess up. I'll meet you guys there.” James said. Lindsey nodded and he slammed the doors shut, banging on the door to signal Asher.

Lindsey picked up Brett's hand, cradling it in her lap as she rubbed her thumb over his knuckles. A small piece of glass that had stubbornly held on until then fell out and she wiped away the red bead of blood that grew in its place. 

_Come on Brett, just hold on._


End file.
